FBI agents liked the idea of Patrick Fitzgerald as a special prosecutor to investigate the email scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton, Politico reported, citing the text messages that were released.
Text messages between senior FBI agent Peter Strzok and bureau attorney Lisa Page suggest Fitzgerald's name was being bandied about at the FBI as a possible option, and both agents held him in high regard.
Then Attorney General Loretta Lynch — unless she abdicated to a deputy — was the only one with the authority and power to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton's private email server.
However, the texts show senior officials at the FBI were mulling the idea of Fitzgerald, a former U.S. attorney.
Strzok: "Thought of the perfect person [FBI Director James Comey] can bounce this off of? Pat... You got to give me credit if we go with him... And delay briefing him on until I can get back and do it, Late next week or later."
Page: "We talked about him last night, not for this, but how great he is."
That text exchange was March 18, 2016.
Lynch never appointed a special prosecutor, and now Sen. Chuck Grassley wants to know why not.
The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday asking if the bureau ever asked the Department of Justice for such an appointment.
"Did the FBI ever recommend a special counsel for the Clinton investigation? If not, why not? If so, did DOJ ever explain why it did not appoint one? Did Attorney General Lynch refuse?" Grassley wrote.
With a subsection titled "Pulling punches in the Clinton investigation," Grassley cited Strzok-Page texts as a possible concerning motive for not hiring a special prosecutor.
Page: "One more thing: (Hillary) might be our next president. The last thing you need us going in there loaded for bear. You think she's going to remember or care that it was more doj than fbi?"
Strzok: "Agreed. I called Bill and relayed what we discussed. He agrees. I will email you and [redacted] same."
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